An English professor at UNC – Chapel Hill is nominating Dr. Christine Blasey Ford for the university’s Distinguished Alumna Award.

Jennifer Ho shared a message on social media over the weekend asking anyone affiliated with UNC to support her nomination after Blasey Ford appeared before the Senate Judiciary committee accusing United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when the two were in high school.

Kavanaugh was later confirmed by the senate and sat on the Supreme Court for hearings on Tuesday morning.

Ho wrote that the faculty who have signed onto the nomination, which is available online, “believe [Blasey Ford] should be recognized as a distinguished alumna.”

“But what Dr. Blasey Ford did on September 27, 2018 was something that was extraordinary in how ordinary it was: she told the truth about a sexual assault she experienced when she was fifteen years old at the hands of Judge Brett Kavanaugh,” Ho wrote. “She made a statement and then answered questions for over three hours in front of a Senate Judiciary Committee with the cameras of the world trained on her.”

Ho added that while there may be some who view the nomination as “an example of partisan politics,” that was not her motivation.

“But this letter nominating Dr. Blasey Ford is not about partisan politics: it is about recognizing that the simple act of speaking one’s truth, especially when that truth involves sexual assault, is an act of bravery. We live in a society that does not believe women. The many indignities that women experience in their day-to-day lives is proof of this, as is the continued attacks on Dr. Blasey Ford after her testimony.”

She added that honoring Blasey Ford “sends a message to her, to our students, faculty, and staff, and to the larger community of the US and the world that we believe her that UNC Chapel Hill believes survivors of sexual assault—and that we recognize the inordinate courage it took for her to take the moral and ethical stand that she did in testifying about her sexual assault experience in front of the world.”

Blasey Ford earned a psychology degree from UNC – Chapel Hill in 1988.

The university’s website said nominations are being accepted for the Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Award through October 15. A maximum of five awards are authorized each year. The honors are then presented at the University Day celebrations each year.

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